Like the Great Mountains

"Your righteousness is like the great mountains; Your judgments are a great deep; O LORD, You preserve man and beast."

Psalm 36:6

It is insightful to meditate upon and consider similes in the Bible.  In this instance, the righteousness of God is compared to the "great mountains."  Mountains in the physical realm can open our understanding of the spiritual nature of God's righteousness.  Though righteousness and mountains are not the same thing, this verse teaches us there are similarities between them.  To better grasp the reality of God's righteousness, how could we describe great mountains?

• Mountains are immovable and endure.  Mountains are established, solid, and trying to shift them is out of the question.  While the earth is subject to erosion over time, the mountain remains.  Tunnels have been cut through them, roads have been carved into them and even diverted around them.  God's righteousness is established like a mountain and is not subject to erosion or change.  The winds of time and the erosion of morality cannot affect God's righteousness.
• Mountains are massive and lofty.  Mountains viewed at a distance do not look imposing, but the closer one approaches the higher they appear.  The summits of the earth's tallest mountains cannot be fully seen from their base.  In a similar way the righteousness of God is past finding out.  It is greater beyond estimation and infinitely exceeds our own (so-called) righteousness.  Try to build a mountain if you like, but whatever man builds nature in time wears and breaks down.  God's righteousness is great and beyond compare.
• Mountains can be inaccessible and impassable.  Whilst great mountains can be climbed at the risk of avalanches, falling rocks, altitude sickness, whiteouts, or falls, no man can begin to scale the heights of God's righteousness.  There is no way an ordinary man can rightly claim he has attained even a fraction of righteousness by his own efforts.  No one climbs a great mountain and says "That was easy!" but attaining the glorious heights of God's righteousness is absolutely impossible for us.  One might as well try to fly to the moon by flapping his wings and having arrived survive wearing only shorts and a t-shirt.
• Mountains are picturesque and recognisable.  Notable mountains are named and their images are found in puzzles, postcards, and movies.  God's righteousness is distinct from what passes as righteousness in men, being totally perfect without a single flaw.  The righteousness of God has been revealed in His law and by the life of Jesus Christ.  The goodness and righteousness of Jesus is beyond compare in this world.  Next to Jesus the best efforts of men to live righteously resemble a hollow pit.

What else can mountains teach us about the righteousness of God?  I am glad God's righteousness endures and is granted to all sinners who repent and trust in Jesus Christ.  We can lay no claim to righteousness by our efforts, but by grace God's righteousness is imputed to all who believe - apart from the law.  Without righteousness no man can see the kingdom of God.  How great is our God and His righteousness!